Review – 15 Minutes of Shame

Monica Lewinsky narrates this exploration of the often-disastrous consequences of unintentionally getting caught up in controversies, especially in the age of social media. The production provides excellent background information about how the system works. My sole misgiving about this is that the case studies seemed oddly off point. The first guy was making money reselling on Amazon, a pastime he might easily have avoided, especially when it drew him into the middle of the hoarding and profiteering scandals of the COVID pandemic. The second subject tells a better story, the only problem being that he would likely have told the same story as a cover if he’d been malicious rather than careless. The final example – and the saddest of the three – was in fact minding her own business when she ended up in the crosshairs of internet scum. But she wasn’t being shamed for anything. She was being attacked for being Black, which was both true and not shameful. Though I appreciated the information and analysis, I’d love to see this remade with a different set of demonstrations. Mildly amusing